India coronavirus death toll rises to 149

As the country enters the third week of its 21-day lockdown, the total number of confirmed cases of novel coronavirus surged to 5,194 and the death toll touched 149 on Wednesday, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

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Out of the total cases, 4,643 are active, 401 individuals have recovered and discharged from the hospital, one person migrated to another country and 149 people succumbed to the disease. Amongst the total affected people, 70 are foreign nationals.

A man pushes a cycle carrying a child during lockdown in Prayagraj, India, on Wednesday. Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP

Maharashtra remained the worst hit state with a total number of positive cases rising to 1,018, followed by Tamil Nadu which has 690 cases, according to the Health Ministry.

The national capital appeared to be fast catching up with 576 total cases so far and nine deaths, as the Aam Aadmi Party government plans to go for random testing at all hotspots in the city.

A civic worker pedals past an areain Noida, a suburb of New Delhi, India, on Wednesday. Altaf Qadri/AP

Besides the two worst affected states, total cases reported in Telangana stood at 364, Kerala (336), Uttar Pradesh (326), Rajasthan (328), Andhra Pradesh (305), Madhya Pradesh (229), Karnataka (175), Gujarat (165), Jammu & Kashmir (116), Punjab (91), West Bengal (99), Haryana (147), Odisha (42), Bihar (38), Uttarakhand (31), Assam (27), Chandigarh (18), Chhattisgarh (10), Ladakh (14), Himachal Pradesh(18), Goa (7), Puducherry (5), Jharkhand (4), Manipur (2), Tripura (1), Mizoram (1), and Arunachal Pradesh (1).

Among the major hotspots across India are Rajasthan's Bhilwara which has successfully contained the spread, Noida in Uttar Pradesh, Nizamuddin in Delhi, Mumbai and Pune in Maharashtra and Kasargod in Kerala among others.

Indo-Asian News Service